SIT DOWN, DOCTOR, AND WRITE US YOUR ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS.
8. In an article called Action of Medicines in his Lesser Writings Hahnemann often speaks of the action of a remedy being tonic or irritating the fibers. What rubric in the Repertory would cover this statement? – W. H. SCHWARTZ.
ANSWER TO CARRIWITCHETS IN THE OCTOBER 1931 ISSUE.
The following is the case presented by Dr. Gordon: M.H., hairdresser, age 22. Dysmenorrhoea very severe formerly. Some doctor prescribed anterior pituitary tablets for it. She took about 800 tablets in six months, and another 800 during the next three or four years. Result acromegaly. Bones of head and face enlarged, and shoulders four inches wider than formerly.
Constant drowsiness, not ameliorated by sleep.
Attacks of exhaustion, must sleep.
Occasional migraine headaches.
Copious sweat. Skin pale and dirty-looking, more so when cold.
TIDY, MEMORY GONE. SENSITIVE.
Fear when alone in house but can conquer it.
ALTERNATELY CHEERFUL AND SAD.
Claustrophobia. Forgets words.
Very sensitive to heat and cold.
Goes blue with cold.
In the November 1931 issue of The Recorder Drs. Roberts and Hazra worked out this case very carefully by the Kent and Boenninghausen method. Under Boenninghausen the following remedies came out high: Phos. 48 (14 out of the 15 symptoms appearing), Puls. 47 (13), Lyc. 46 (13), Conium 46 (13). Under Kent: Lyc. 29/9, Sulph. 19/9, Phos. 18/9, Bar. carb. 17/8, Bell. 17/8, Sep. 17/8, Nux vom. 16/8, Nat. mur. 15/9, Conium 14/9.
Careful reference to the materia medica suggested Conium as the remedy. -ED.
The following answer to this case has recently arrived. This case needs Calcarea carb. How can any other remedy be considered? Acromegaly, copious sweat, constant, sleepiness, exhaustion, lacks vital heat. I will wager that she enjoys soft boiled eggs and am sure she cannot climb the stairs without great effort and palpitation. Give her Calc. carb. at six week intervals in ascending series of potencies, with special caution not to go near the water. – W. H. SCHWARTZ.
FURTHER REPORT ON THIS CASE FROM DR. GORDON.
On September 9, 1931 she was given Conium 10M, one dose.
October 14. Nerves steady, no exhaustion, no headaches, menses almost painless, sweat decreasing, still drowsy during the day. Sac. lac.
December 12. Menstrual pain rather worse, drowsiness ceased, no increase in size of the bones. Sac. lac.
Whereas the patient had been highly nervous, she was then calm, and quite certain that the disease had been arrested. What next? Can the remedy go further and cause affected bones to return to normal size?- C. GORDON.
ANSWER TO QUESTIONS IN THE DECEMBER 1931 ISSUE.
Here is a point in philosophy that needs some clarification: The symptoms are supposed to disappear from above downward, from within outward and in the reverse order of their appearance. Now do the last symptoms go first or do the chronic mental symptoms go first? In other words are the last symptoms, say, of a catarrh, first to go or are the old mental symptoms of poor memory the first to leave? Another example: Should the symptoms of hectic fever, which are of later development go first or should the old but inner symptoms of painful menses or dysmenorrhoea go first? Which is more important, the order or the direction of the symptoms.
Possibly if the proposition were stated differently the matter would be clear, or at least less confusing. As a matter of fact two of the rules (from above downward, and from within outward) are included in the one that should read FROM CENTER TO CIRCUMFERENCE. It is based on the centrifugal law which operates from center to circumference, or from within outward from the vital to the less vital organs. Suppression is the reverse action or centripetalization, from circumference to center from less vital to more vital organs. – W.H. SCHWARTZ.
The directions of cure are given thus:
1. From within outwards.
2. From above downwards.
3. In reverse order of appearance.
This, to my mind, is their order of precedence:.
1. From within outwards is the primary and fundamental direction of cure, as when mental symptoms disappear and are replaced by physical symptoms associated with disorder of heart, lungs, etc., which progressively become more superficial until cure is effected.
The patient should feel better in himself even though local ailments may be worse. This is the first action to be looked for.
2. From above downwards does not always come into play, but where it does, it is of importance because the exact point of advance or retardation can be fixed by the progress of the symptoms downwards or upwards. It is most commonly illustrated by muscular pain and stiffness.
3. In the reverse order of appearance is as a rule not to be looked for in the early stages of treatment, but shows up later as the remedy takes the patient back and back through his medical history, digging up old symptoms and eliminating them until the starting point of imbalance is reached and he is left cured.
The initial process of treatment may be compared to a military force marching into revolutionary country, seizing the seat of government, ejecting the leaders of the revolution and establishing law and order which extend gradually to the confines of the country. That is principle No. 1 in action and, doubtless, to greater or less extent, No. 2 also.
Once that is done, the attention of the government can be turned towards carrying out principle No. 3 which is the rectification of old abuses. – C. GORDON.
ANSWER TO QUESTIONS IN THE FEBRUARY 1932 ISSUE.
Could homoeopathic medicines be given by injection? If not, why not?.
Homoeopaths could give their homoeopathic medicines by injections but to what purpose? In the first place, the method of administration is an unnatural way of putting anything into the body. In the second place the medicine will act just as quickly by mouth. The rapidity with which the medicine acts is in direct ratio as to how well it is indicated. It is not putting in a carload of medicine that counts, but medicine of the right kind. Intravenous and hypodermic administrations make fine showmanship, but little else. – D.T. PULFORD.
Is there any treatment in homoeopathy for leucoderma (white patches)? What is the treatment for high blood-pressure?.
There is only one answer or these: There is a treatment for people who have these conditions. It would only lead to disappointment and disaster to mention for them. The patient is the all-deciding factor. Nothing is more foolish in diagnosis than leading people to think that one symptom constitutes a disease. It is as erroneous and misleading as to teach that the diagnosis indicates the remedy.- D.T. PULFORD.
Can homoeopaths prescribe patent medicines, manufactured by a homoeopathic chemist, which contain more than one drug?.
A doctor can prescribe anything he wishes to prescribe, but, if he is practising true homoeopathy, he should not prescribe any such combination remedy. True homoeopathy is based on the law of similars. The remedy for each case is found by taking a careful analysis of the individuals whole history, symptoms, subjective feelings, objective symptoms and appearance, together with the results of a careful physical examination. This totality is then analyzed for those important symptoms which are very individual, the reaction of this particular person to the disease process, and a remedy is chosen which has produced a similar set of symptoms on healthy provers. As two drugs can never be the same, and as there can never be two similimums the importance of the first sentence in this answer is very evident?- E.B. LYLE.
The central principle of homoeopathy is the law of similars, the corollaries are the single remedy and the minimum dose. Concoctions of two or more remedies may contain antidotal remedies, and if not, the actions of each one would be modified by the other. Remember that Kent said that a homoeopathic remedy is homoeopathic only when it is the similimum to a given case, and not just when it is administered by a homoeopathic physician or combined with other remedies by a homoeopathic chemist.- D. T. PULFORD.
How can homoeopathy be spread in different countries of the world?.
There is only one way to spread homoeopathy anywhere: To practise it in the truly Hahnemannian manner so that the people will seek it and other physicians will be led to it by its superior results. Any other way is artificial and bound to lead to professional and lay disappointment. – D. T. PULFORD.
Thus it happens that whether the view we may adopt of the exact pathological condition of these interior organs be perfectly correct or not, if we but select the remedy which corresponds to all the symptoms, and especially to the subjective and sensational as prior and superior to the objective and structural, we shall most certainly witness the recovery of our patient. For physiology no more truly precedes pathology, than do the subjective symptoms precede the objective; and the sensational symptoms anticipate the structural disorganizations and even the functional derangements. And herein is involved the entire philosophy of the homoeopathic treatment, and the secret of the homoeopathic cure. – H. N. GUERNSEY, M.D., 1866.
